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Foley Killers Hanged
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-Short Attention Span Theater-
Ironic Obit
OLD FORT, N.C. (AP) - Daniel DeLaVergne, a whitewater kayaker who paddled one of North America's most dangerous rivers in less than 10 hours, died Wednesday after being hit by a train. He was 29...
There was just something terribly 'Zen' about this obit.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 03/12/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  used up his nine lives on the river.
Posted by: 2b || 03/12/2006 0:33 Comments || Top||

#2  From the article, he was sleeping in a rainroad tunnel, 200 ft in. When my buddy and I were 16 years old, we took a shortcut through the 2 mile long Tunnel 41 under Donner Summit. Nothing happened, but if a train came through, we may have been hit or asphixiated. I still shutter when I think about our foolishness back then.
Posted by: Alaska Paul in Hooper Bay, AK || 03/12/2006 4:06 Comments || Top||

#3  When you take shelter in a railway tunnel, Don't set up camp on the tracks.

Darwin award nominee. "I ain't scared of no trains."
Posted by: Thinemp Whimble2412 || 03/12/2006 11:57 Comments || Top||

#4  Time tables AP, time tables.
Posted by: 6 || 03/12/2006 14:58 Comments || Top||

#5  really kind of a patheitc way to die. I keep having visions of Wile E. plastered to the front of a locomotive with the Road Runner as the engineer....
Posted by: USN Ret. || 03/12/2006 23:17 Comments || Top||


Africa Subsaharan
Zimbabwe Inflation Soars to All-Time High
HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) - Yearly inflation soared to an all-time high of 782 percent in Zimbabwe, the former breadbasket of southern Africa whose economy collapsed from years of complete total mismanagement, corruption, theft and avarice drought and the government-backed seizure of thousands of white-owned commercial farms.

Prices rose 27.5 percent during the month of February alone, and the average family of five needed about $90 just to meet basic food needs, far above average earnings, state radio said Saturday. Trade unions say those still formally employed - about 20 percent of the work force - earn about $55 a month. Workers on formerly white-owned commercial farms, by contrast, earn as little as $3 a month from their employers, many of them beneficiaries of President Robert Mugabe's "fast track" land redistribution.

In 2001, $1 was equal to 55 Zimbabwean dollars. In 2003, $1 equaled 700 Zimbabwean dollars, and in 2005 $1 equaled 15,000. Today, $1 is equal to 99,000 Zimbabwean dollars.

The nation is suffering its worst economic crisis since independence from Britain in 1980 - when $1 equaled two Zimbabwean dollars - with acute shortages of food, gasoline, medicines and other essential imports. The U.S. ambassador to Zimbabwe said in November that gross government mismanagement and corruption have reversed a half-century of progress in six years.
And Bob hasn't missed a meal.
The Central Statistical Office said inflation was 782 percent for the 12 months that ended in February. Moffat Nyoni, acting director of the government-run Statistical Office, said prices of food and nonalcoholic beverages rose 824 percent during that time.

State radio predicted that inflation would fall to 200 percent annually by the end of the year after a "bumper harvest by new farmers," but an all-party parliamentary committee warned before the November start of this season's rains that production would be at an all-time low due to shortages of diesel, seed, fertilizer, chemicals, functioning farm machinery and skilled labor. Farmworkers of Malawian, Zambian or Mozambican descent have been forced to return to their parents' and grandparents' countries of origin following eviction by Mugabe's land recipients.
Posted by: Steve White || 03/12/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1 
probably get the Nobel Peace prize next year.
Posted by: RD || 03/12/2006 1:37 Comments || Top||

#2  Mouth off again to God. He said "Pull my finger".
Posted by: newc || 03/12/2006 2:04 Comments || Top||

#3  Is that the Red Sprocket of Genocide around his neck?
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 03/12/2006 11:06 Comments || Top||

#4  For those playing at home, the interim rankings in the Mismanaged Government Olympics are:

1) Kim Jong-il
2) Bob Mugabe
3) Hugo Chavez
4) Fidel Castro
5) The Junta of Myanmar

Meanwhile competitors such as the Mad Mullahs of Iran, and the Warlords of Somalia are moving up fast. And what about Baby Assad? Stay tuned for further developments in this exciting competition.
Posted by: DMFD || 03/12/2006 12:10 Comments || Top||

#5  Dutch farmers are totally to blame.
Posted by: Glomorong Hupath9259 || 03/12/2006 18:55 Comments || Top||


Caribbean-Latin America
Conflict brewing between The Dutch and Venezuela?
Posted by: Wheting Whomose9658 || 03/12/2006 15:01 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Hugo is definately crazy, but I really don't see him being stupid enough to attack the possessions of any country that's a member of NATO, silly as NATO is now. While the rest of NATO would not honor their treaty obligations, the US and the UK would, which is more than enough to stomp Hugo into a nasty red paste.
Posted by: Silentbrick || 03/12/2006 15:27 Comments || Top||

#2  Actually, I do believe Hugo is not only crazy but calculated. He is a Western Hemisphere ally to Iran, who would like nothing more than to see the focus moved off of Iranian nukes and Lebanon and on to a confrontation of his own making.
Posted by: Captain America || 03/12/2006 17:28 Comments || Top||

#3  blockade of Venezuela would be only slightly less difficult than killing him and taking teh oil
Posted by: Frank G || 03/12/2006 17:48 Comments || Top||

#4  More beach babes, barbecues, and coconut beers-rum to be saved by the Marines. MacArthur would be already be nation-building while Congressional pols still discuss whether to invade.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 03/12/2006 20:54 Comments || Top||

#5  Captain America's take makes sense. Then again, rather than complain about Clinton's downsizing of the military (hey, anyone notice that we'd have had to pay all those soldiers? Who here would have actually been able to force Congress to pay for them? Apparently the Army is resisting moves to increase their numbers for this reason)...

... wonder what assets would be used to deal with both? (Emphasis on both at the same time, instead of the US getting to throw its full military attack power at one or the other.)
Posted by: Edward Yee || 03/12/2006 23:39 Comments || Top||


Will Chavez embroil Venezuela in a war in the Caribbean?
Posted by: Angeaper Clomoting8015 || 03/12/2006 07:55 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Chavez could even get Fox News Network on his side in such a war if he claimed he was doing it to find Natalie Holloway.
Posted by: Glenmore || 03/12/2006 12:16 Comments || Top||

#2  Sic Gretta on him - THAT'll teach him. ;-)
Posted by: lotp || 03/12/2006 12:56 Comments || Top||

#3  Chavez's cooperation with muslim terrorism will be his downfall. The bothers Khalil have already been denied entries to the US and their company offices closed in Florida.
Chavez has a red of supporters and ambassadors paid to do his anti-american propaganda outside the US. For example: the Venezuelan Ambassador to Saudi Arabia is a known US hater. The day after the massacre of Khobar, the asshole released photos of Iraqis being killed by “US troops”, who according to him, were the true terrorists. Every month he releases a communiqué of the most anti-Americans articles published around the world. He has them translated into Arabic for his muslim audience.
Posted by: TMH || 03/12/2006 16:07 Comments || Top||


Fidel Sees Free Speech in Action
Hat tip to Mrs. Bobby
Security workers confiscated posters from fans at the World Baseball Classic on Friday, the day after an anti-Castro sign appeared in the stands of a Cuba-Netherlands game, provoking an international incident. The controversy has escalated with the velocity of a major league fastball since a spectator on Thursday raised a sign saying "Down with Fidel" behind home plate — an image beamed live to millions of TV viewers, including those in Cuba.

Local organizers of the tournament responded Friday by banning posters of a political nature. Private security officials confiscated all posters from spectators entering Hiram Bithorn Stadium for the Cuba-Puerto Rico game, including one showing a Puerto Rican player hitting a baseball that bore the image of Fidel Castro's head. But a top police official said his officers would not enforce the ban. "I have been clear that here there is freedom of expression and the police of Puerto Rico will not interfere at any time with any type of expression," Puerto Rico Police Chief Pedro Toledo said.

At the game Thursday, the top Cuban official at the stadium in San Juan rushed to confront the man with the sign. Puerto Rican police quickly intervened and took the Cuban official — Angel Iglesias, vice president of Cuba's National Institute of Sports — to a nearby police station where they lectured him about free speech. "We explained to him that here the constitutional right to free expression exists and that it is not a crime," police Col. Adalberto Mercado was quoted as saying in the Puerto Rican newspaper El Nuevo Dia.

The brouhaha gathered steam when Cuba's Communist Party newspaper, Granma, called the sign-waving "a cowardly incident." Cuba's Revolutionary Sports Movement exhorted Cubans to demonstrate in Havana, saying U.S. and Puerto Rican authorities were involved in "the cynical counterrevolutionary provocations."

One of the protesters who showed up in front of the U.S. diplomatic mission in Havana bore a sign that said: "Down with Bush." Star Cuban athletes were among hundreds of protesters. An official Cuban communique urged the Cuban team to "respond to the provocations with hits, home runs, strikes, outs."

The Cubans considered withdrawing from the tournament because of "the lack of security and respect" but decided to remain after Puerto Rican promoters made guarantees, the Cuban Baseball Federation said in a statement without elaborating. Enrique said that during the warmup before the game, he flashed another sign denouncing Castro — this one saying, "Baseball players yes, Tyrants no" — to the Cuban leader's son, Tony Castro. Tony Castro is the Cuban team doctor. "He looked down and kept walking and I shouted, 'Eso es para tu papa (That is for your dad)," Enrique said, according to the account in the Web site.

Mercado said the spectator, and a second one who also waved signs, had tickets for the section behind home plate, but had moved out of their seats closer to TV cameras. Cuban state TV was showing the ESPN signal and the anti-Castro signs were briefly visible on television in Cuba.
Posted by: Bobby || 03/12/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1 
Puerto Rican police quickly intervened and took the Cuban official — Angel Iglesias, vice president of Cuba's National Institute of Sports — to a nearby police station where they lectured him about free speech. "We explained to him that here the constitutional right to free expression exists and that it is not a crime"
Good for them! At least somebody gets it.
One of the protesters who showed up in front of the U.S. diplomatic mission in Havana bore a sign that said: "Down with Bush."
Yawn. Minus 10 points for lack of originality. Where were the giant puppets?

Our homegrown moonbats can do better than that on their worst days. ;-p
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 03/12/2006 0:16 Comments || Top||

#2  If they cower in fear at the threat of a cardboard sign, I shudder to think what a well-placed pamplet campaign like the one in Iraq before the war would do.
Posted by: Charles || 03/12/2006 2:45 Comments || Top||

#3  Ah, fuck 'em. Commie Bastards.
Posted by: ononotagin || 03/12/2006 14:40 Comments || Top||


China-Japan-Koreas
7th round of India-China boundary talks get under way
Chinese Vice-Foreign Minister and Special Representative on boundary talks with India Dai Bingguo called on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday morning ahead of his meeting with his Indian counterpart, M.K. Narayanan, at Hyderabad House here.

Speaking in the Lok Sabha, the Prime Minister said after his meeting with Mr. Dai that India's relations with China were both stronger and warmer. "Even today our two Special Representatives are discussing the issues of boundary settlement."

Mr. Narayanan and Mr. Dai held formal talks for about one-and-a-half-hours. The talks, spread over three days, will shift to Kottayam in Kerala on Sunday and Monday.

Seventh round

This is the seventh round on the boundary question between the Special Representatives. As is the practice, a statement recording the fact that the talks took place will be issued after the discussions are over.

In a bid to build trust, neither the Indian nor Chinese side has said anything on the nature of discussions since the mechanism of Special Representatives was set up in June 2003.

Earlier in the week, PTI quoted a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman as saying in Beijing, "China believes that as long as the two sides proceed forward and conduct patient, thorough and friendly consultations in the spirit of mutual understanding and mutual accommodation, we can find a fair and reasonable framework acceptable to both sides so as to lay the foundation for the final settlement of the boundary issue."
Posted by: john || 03/12/2006 10:18 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  1962 Chinese Invasion! Anyone else remember?
Posted by: borgboy || 03/12/2006 14:20 Comments || Top||

#2  I wuz a mere child and rootin for UnderDawg.
Posted by: 6 || 03/12/2006 15:01 Comments || Top||

#3  I was three - but heavily influenced by the Dalai even at such a young age....yeah, right

I see several good reasons for an alliance with India - two of which are that it tweaks the sh&t out of expansionist Pakis and China.
Posted by: Frank G || 03/12/2006 15:20 Comments || Top||


China issues human rights record of US
rest at link
Following is the full text of the Human Rights Record of the United States in 2005, released by the Information office of China's State Council Thursday.

The Human Rights Record of the United States in 2005

The Information Office of the State Council of the People's Republic of China March 9, 2006


On March 8, the U.S. Department of State, posing once again as "the world's judge of human rights," released its Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2005. As in previous years, the State Department pointed the finger at human rights situations in more than 190 countries and regions, including China, but kept silent on the serious violations of human rights in the United States. To help people realize the true features of this self-styled "guardian of human rights," it is necessary to probe into the human rights abuses in the United States in 2005.

I. On Life and Security of Person

For a long time, the life and personal security of people of the United States have not been under efficient protection. American society is characterized with rampant violent crimes. Across the country each year, 50,000 suicides and homicides are committed (Va.Violent Deaths Are Mostly Suicides, The Washington Post, October 12, 2005).

The U.S. Justice Department reported on Sept. 25, 2005 that there were 5,182,670 violent crimes in the United States in 2004. There were 21.4 victims for every 1,000 people aged 12 and older, which amounts to about one violent crime victim for every 47 U.S. citizens (Crime Rate Remains at 2003 Level, Study Says, The Washington Post, September 26, 2005).
Posted by: john || 03/12/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Most of our crimes/murders are committed by amateurs who don't work for the state. Unlike China.
Posted by: Glising Chaviling8280 || 03/12/2006 8:15 Comments || Top||

#2  Chinese checkers?
Posted by: Captain America || 03/12/2006 17:31 Comments || Top||

#3  You need soft power to be able to issue Human rights reports.

China is no city on the hill.

Who admires Chinese "democracy", or wishes their society to be organized the Chinese way? Who admires the Chinese constitution, or its founding fathers? Its treatment of minorities? Its criminal justice system? Its health care system? Its education system?

China has zero soft power.

As mothers say, you know someone by the company they keep. China's friends are Pakistan, North Korea, Iran, Sudan, Burma.

Theu don't get to issue human rights reports.. if they do, nobody cares what they say...
Posted by: john || 03/12/2006 18:19 Comments || Top||


Down Under
Ban remains on uranium sales to India: Downer
Australia will maintain its ban on uranium exports to India and other countries which have not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer has said. His comments dashed hopes in New Delhi that the stance could be softened to help India meet soaring energy demand.

Mr Downer said he would not change Australia's 30-year-old policy of not exporting uranium to treaty non-signatories. "There's no basis at this stage for us changing that policy now," he said on ABC-TV. "We don't have any intention at this stage to change our policy in relation to uranium exports to those three countries, which are India, Pakistan and Israel, that haven't signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty," he added.

India's request to buy uranium from Australia, which has almost half the world's known resources, followed a landmark deal between India and the United States on civil nuclear energy, reached during a visit by U.S. President George Bush in early March. Australian Prime Minister John Howard, during his own visit to India last week, made positive noises about the U.S. agreement and left officials upbeat on the prospect of expanding a nuclear energy industry which accounts for just three percent of output.

Mr Downer said he was still keen to see the finer details of the U.S.-Indian nuclear technology trading agreement.
Posted by: Oztralian || 03/12/2006 08:11 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Europe
Lawyer shows copy of a letter Slobodan Milosevic wrote to Russia
Soviet-trained habits die hard.
Posted by: Shavimble Angaviting1996 || 03/12/2006 12:35 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  He's dead Jim.
Posted by: Slealet Glolutle3214 || 03/12/2006 18:56 Comments || Top||

#2  My meal ticket- gone!
Posted by: Carla del Ponte || 03/12/2006 21:22 Comments || Top||

#3  I thought I was Carla Del Ponte.....
Posted by: Frank G || 03/12/2006 21:55 Comments || Top||


Turkish living standards rising with economic stability
It is still too early to start celebrating increases in the living standards of every Turk, but the latest figures clearly show less misery and despair at an aggregate level.

Measures of poverty known as misery indices have declined to the lowest levels in decades, according to a report issued yesterday by investment bank Morgan Stanley. The first misery index was developed by Ronald Reagan Arthur Okun, based on the sum of inflation and unemployment rates, and won acceptance as a simple gauge to evaluate macroeconomic progress. A combination of higher unemployment and inflation rates shows deterioration in economic performance and a corresponding increase in social affliction.

In Turkey's case, inflation dropped from an average of 77.5 percent in the 1990s to single-digits; coupled with a gradual rise in the labor market, the misery index has shown a sustained improvement in the post-crisis period.

An alternative, more comprehensive misery index better assesses the effectiveness of economic policies in improving living standards. The alternative version consists of public-sector borrowing requirement, interest rates and output growth along with inflation and jobless rates, and presents a more striking improvement. Most of this correction is due to fiscal consolidation, disinflation and interest-rate compression, but even the unemployment rate, after increasing from 5.5 percent in 2000 to the post-crisis peak of 12.3 percent, declined to 10.3 percent last year.

The most recent figures show a number of buoyant signs, including robust employment growth in all sectors except agriculture. The total number of people with jobs grew by 1.2 percent year-on-year to 22 million last year, but non-farm employment surged by 12.0 percent, from 65.2 percent of total employment in 2004 to 70.5 percent last year.
Posted by: lotp || 03/12/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Don't worry - the islamonazis will help Turkey get its economy back to the 7th century. Soon. :^(
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 03/12/2006 0:24 Comments || Top||

#2  In 7th century, Turkey was Byzantium---(probably) highest standard of living in the World
Posted by: gromgoru || 03/12/2006 9:48 Comments || Top||

#3  In 7th century, Turkey was Byzantium---(probably) highest standard of living in the World

So what? Middle class in 21st century western countries live considerably better than the leaders of seventh century Byzantium.
Posted by: DMFD || 03/12/2006 12:21 Comments || Top||


Ukraine’s hardman back to wreck orange revolution
LESS than 15 months after he was forced from power by crowds of pro-democracy protesters, a former communist hardliner is finalising his plans to end Ukraine’s orange revolution. Viktor Yanukovich, 55, the former prime minister whose presidential campaign in 2004 ended in humiliation when he stepped down amid allegations of electoral fraud, is expected to win the largest number of votes for his party when Ukraine elects a new parliament later this month.

His astonishing comeback has severely undermined the authority of Viktor Yushchenko, 52, the embattled pro-western president and hero of the orange revolution. Yanukovich has promised to steer Ukraine away from the West and back into Russia’s sphere of influence. “I have no doubts whatsoever that we will win these elections,” said a tanned and buoyant Yanukovich at his party headquarters in Kiev.

“The orange revolution has long been over. It was a populist coup staged by people who made a lot of empty promises and brought Ukraine to the brink of catastrophe. Yushchenko’s policy towards Russia is not in our national interest and in the eyes of the people the concept of EU membership has been discredited. As for Nato, Ukraine isn’t ready to join it.”

According to the latest polls, Yanukovich’s Party of Regions could win more than 30% of the vote on March 26. Our Ukraine, Yushchenko’s party, is expected to get no more than 20%. It could be overtaken by the party of Yulia Timoshenko, 46, the president’s charismatic former ally. He sacked her as prime minister last September and has since accused her of corruption, a claim she denies. At stake are Yushchenko’s survival as a political force and the future of the orange revolution he led with Timoshenko.

Under constitutional changes introduced on January 1, parliament rather than the president now chooses the prime minister, most of the government and the regional leaders. Without a majority in the country’s 450- seat parliament, Yushchenko, whose personal approval rating has plummeted by 50% in a year, will be leader only in name. He may face a painful choice between forming a coalition with Yanukovich or Timoshenko. Worse still, he risks seeing them unite against him.

The prospect of Yanukovich’s return to the forefront of Ukrainian politics has filled supporters of the orange revolution with dread. It has also dismayed western governments which were quick to support Yushchenko when he challenged the authoritarian regime of Leonid Kuchma, the former president who was close to Moscow. “The country is going from crisis to crisis,” said Yanukovich. “People look back now and see that under my leadership things were much better than they are now. I predicted that the revolution was just pure populism and people now see that I was right.”

Yanukovich has opposed moves by Yushchenko’s government to re-privatise companies which were sold off cheaply by the state under Kuchma. Yanukovich is close to some of Ukraine’s most powerful oligarchs, especially Rinat Akhmetov, the country’s richest man. There are fears that Yanukovich’s comeback could herald a return to the corruption of the Kuchma era. It was during Yanukovich’s time as prime minister that the state sold Ukraine’s largest steel plant to a consortium led by Akhmetov and Kuchma’s son-in-law for $811m, even though a foreign bidder had offered $1.5 billion. After the orange revolution the plant was renationalised and put up for sale again. It fetched $4.81 billion.

Such high-profile initiatives have failed to halt the decline of Yushchenko’s public standing. Protesters who braved sub-zero temperatures for two weeks to force Yanukovich out lament promises made by Yushchenko during the peaceful uprising that have since been betrayed.

The president’s difficulties have been compounded by the state of Ukraine’s stagnant economy. Having been seen as decisive and brave during the revolution, Yushchenko looked weak and indecisive earlier this year during a row with Moscow over gas prices which led to supplies being temporarily cut off. “Few politicians in the world enjoyed Yushchenko’s popularity,” said Oleg Zvarych, a driver who took part in the revolution. “As for Yanukovich, I thought we had seen the last of him. His comeback is too depressing for words.”
Posted by: Steve White || 03/12/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I'll be glad to spot someone the price of a box of bullets....

Just sayin', 's all.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 03/12/2006 0:17 Comments || Top||

#2  A box? You can get a bucket of ammo and an AK47 knockoff (in the Ukraine probably the real thing, not sure about price) if you know where to go. Bucket is not a figure of speech in this case.
Posted by: Rafael || 03/12/2006 15:01 Comments || Top||

#3  To explain...In the early 1990s many Russians, Ukrainians, and other easterners, flooded local markets in Poland selling all sorts of Russian things, taking their earnings back to their homes. Nothing wrong with that. But it was also a time when border guards could be easily bribed. This meant a lot of interesting items crossed the border, including guns. And yes, ammo came by the bucket.
Nowadays it's a bit different; the easterners need visas to enter Poland, Polish border guards aren't easy to bribe anymore (an EU requirement), and the markets are more organized (and there's certainly less of them).
Acquiring guns is probably much harder as well.
Posted by: Rafael || 03/12/2006 17:31 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Daschle May Run for President (on Amnesia Party)
Former Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle, accusing the GOP of spreading a message of fear, says he is considering a 2008 presidential bid.

"I haven't ruled anything out or anything in at this point," Daschle said in an interview Saturday night after a hometown dinner in his honor.

"I'm encouraged by the strong support many people have voiced for my candidacy around the country and in South Dakota. I'll make a decision at some point later on this year," he said.

Daschle said President Bush and Republicans have overemphasized the importance of the war on terror, and he said the U.S. is no safer now than it was before the Iraq invasion.

Posted by: Captain America || 03/12/2006 16:49 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  we welcome Tom Thumb to the bash. Dennis Kucinich will give up his stack of telephone books for speechs
Posted by: Frank G || 03/12/2006 17:15 Comments || Top||

#2  I suspect that several are running for cabinet posts. With even a handful of votes, they can be decisive during the primaries. The big question: is he pro or anti Hillary faction?
Posted by: Anonymoose || 03/12/2006 18:34 Comments || Top||


PA gov loses it - seizes reporter's recorder during interview
Gonna be an interesting election year in my old home state. Could Rendell become a real liability for the Dems in this purple state? excerpt:
An angry Gov. Ed Rendell took a tape recorder away from a newspaper reporter during an impromptu interview this week, refusing to give it back for several minutes, according to the paper. ...

Rendell has been involved in other confrontations with reporters, including grabbing the neck of a Philadelphia Inquirer reporter in May 1994 when he was the city's mayor. Philadelphia Daily News columnist Gar Joseph, in a Friday item entitled "Rendell 6, reporters 0," cites five other alleged physical confrontations with reporters from the Inquirer or Daily News.

In February 1999, the Daily News also reported that Rendell grasped a reporter's notebook after becoming angry during an interview.

Posted by: lotp || 03/12/2006 09:35 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Sometimes reporters deserve what they get. If a few more reporters got the crap knocked out of themselves we just might have some responsible reporting going on.
Posted by: 49 Pan || 03/12/2006 10:14 Comments || Top||

#2  I'm not sure that the ex-mayor of Philadelphia qualifies as an innocent victim of the press LOL ... but I take your point.
Posted by: lotp || 03/12/2006 10:17 Comments || Top||

#3  This guy is a bad example, I agree. The press get away with saying anything they want and confrontational hiding behind the 1st Ammendment. Even lawyers has some standards of conduct.
Posted by: 49 Pan || 03/12/2006 12:10 Comments || Top||

#4  Son uses one of those near invisible digital recorders... Or a application on his powerbook.
One advantage of digital is you can do a quick voice to text translation (yeah its awful but helps edit and formating...)
Posted by: 3dc || 03/12/2006 12:32 Comments || Top||

#5  "the last 20 years being hounded by members of the media and being attacked by Republicans..."

Yeah sure, he has anger managment issues and has shown a lack of personal restraint from time to time but jeeesh...don't blame him...clearly it's the Republicans fault.
Posted by: DepotGuy || 03/12/2006 13:11 Comments || Top||

#6  When I read the head live I thought it referred to the Palistinian Authority government [sic]... imagine my surprise.....
Posted by: Phuting Spoluck1081 || 03/12/2006 16:02 Comments || Top||

#7  Well, Philadelphia politics is sort of like Palestinian politics without the bomb belts and weapons. :)
Posted by: Darrell || 03/12/2006 16:08 Comments || Top||

#8  I originally thought this was a story about the Palestinian Authority not Pennsylvania's Rendell.

Didn't really matter. Another "Water's wet" story...
Posted by: Danking70 || 03/12/2006 17:41 Comments || Top||

#9  It's either assault, or illegal search and seizure. What's wrong with you guys? A little weak in your convictions?
Posted by: Skidmark || 03/12/2006 22:19 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
Union corruption and the ports
NEW YORK - Justice Department lawyers warned eight months ago that a nefarious element had infiltrated important East Coast ports, but they weren't talking about terrorists or Arab shipping companies.
Yeah, um, who are they talking about?
They were talking about the mafia.
Absolute shock!!
In a civil suit filed in July, prosecutors accused the International Longshoremen's Association, the 65,000-member union that supplies labor to ports from Florida to Maine, of being a "vehicle for organized crime" on the waterfront. Packed with tales of corruption, embezzling and extortion, the complaint accused union executives of being associates of the Genovese and Gambino crime families.
So, are we going to pass legislation that prevents the unions from working the docks?
Posted by: Clolush Glirt7201 || 03/12/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  So, are we going to pass legislation that prevents the unions from working the docks?

And risk Hillary's image before elections? I think not!
Posted by: Charles || 03/12/2006 2:50 Comments || Top||

#2  So this is news? This has been SOP for many decades. Jeeze Louise!
Posted by: Alaska Paul in Hooper Bay, AK || 03/12/2006 4:11 Comments || Top||

#3  It's a good thing we didn't let the A-rabs take over organized crime.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 03/12/2006 7:59 Comments || Top||

#4  So when the west coast unions conspired with the Dems to block port traffic as economic warfare against the Bush Administration around election time, that's not RICO?
Posted by: Glising Chaviling8280 || 03/12/2006 8:12 Comments || Top||


Science & Technology
3 girls dead. bird flu or bird flu panic?
Two girls have died in Georgia during in the two days and parents of their fellow schoolers suppose the victims had bird flu.

7-year-old girl died after physicians were unable to save her, Interfax news agency reported. The official verdict was acute pneumonia. Two days before, a 12-year-old girl who studied at the same school in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi, died of the same disease.

Georgian Health Ministry officials refute the reports that the girls could had contracted bird flu saying that no virus of this infection had been found in the victims’ blood.

Earlier, a girl died in Azerbaijan after being hospitalized for bird flu-like symptoms. However, the health ministry declined to reveal official cause of death.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 03/12/2006 20:05 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I call "panic". Those dust masks they're wearing are about as useful as porch screen for filtering a virus.
Posted by: Darrell || 03/12/2006 21:30 Comments || Top||

#2  Since most pulmonary xmission happens by direct or indirect hand contact, masks like that might actually be more effective than previously believed. That is, most contamination will be caught in the large water droplets containing the virus.

Such masks must be accompanied by some kind of eye protection, though.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 03/12/2006 21:36 Comments || Top||

#3  I cry when I think of the suffering of children resulting from ignorant brainwashed adults suffering dimensia. It don't make it right, but the practice has been in place for thousands of years. That don't make it right, that make it DO! Too bad immature immune systems are most susceptible. That comes from never getting out of the village! We should come out with a STD that only works on adults. Oh yeah, there is one.

"...let loose the chickens of WAR!"
Posted by: Skidmark || 03/12/2006 22:14 Comments || Top||

#4  Masks stop you touching the mucous membranes in the mouth and nose (and hopefully the eyes as well), the main route of flu infection. Pretty much anything over your face will work.
Posted by: phil_b || 03/12/2006 22:41 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Thailand warns of unusual underwater tremors
BANGKOK - Thailand warned Saturday of a series of unusual underwater earthquakes in the Andaman Sea, urging caution along its southern coast where the tsunami hit in 2004. The National Disaster Warning Center said that between March 9 and11 it had detected 31 quakes ranging in magnitude from 4.0 to 5.3 near the Andaman Islands, some 500 kilometers (300 miles) east of the southern Thai province of Ranong.

The epicenters have been in an area where underwater volcanoes sometimes erupt along a fault line, it said in a statement. “It could cause a major eruption of underwater volcanoes, and that could trigger a tsunami that would damage Thailand,” the statement said.
Did someone start the warmup on the Halliburton Zionist Underwater Earthquake Machine again?
Posted by: Steve White || 03/12/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  There is another big quake coming. This time, though, they will be on their own. No outpouring of donations from the west will happen this time. Just a quiet "bye bye".
Posted by: Thinemp Whimble2412 || 03/12/2006 12:08 Comments || Top||

#2  Arise, Lemuria/MU, Arise - perhaps its due to the solar actvities from yesterday, i.e. "flicks of visible solar "fire" around the edge of the Sun. Heavy gravity vs "normal gravity. Madonna's Daddy's cholesterol, etal. must be up.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 03/12/2006 20:50 Comments || Top||

#3  Wow, Joe, maybe you should apply for a global warming grant.
Posted by: Darrell || 03/12/2006 20:53 Comments || Top||

#4  Dats good-tasting PC/PDeniable CIA poison, it is
- BBBBBUUUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRRRRRPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP!
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 03/12/2006 20:57 Comments || Top||

#5  There's underwater tremors and life threatening tidal surges when I'm in the tub with my wife...
Posted by: Skidmark || 03/12/2006 22:22 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Iranian Gov't to look into issue of youth unemployment
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that his government was determined to put priority to solving the problem of unemployed youth in the country. Ahmadinejad, who arrived in Poldokhtar city Thursday morning on the second day of a two-day visit of this western province, made the remark while addressing local officials and residents of the city.

Big problem for Iran. The Iranian government officially (CIA factbook) estimated 2004 national unemployment at 11.2%.

But a 2004 report commissioned by Iran's Management and Plan Organization put the total national unemployment rate at 13.2%, and predicted if the level held up, the jobless rate among the 15-29 age group would reach 52% by 2006. Another 2004 report put unemployment at 34% among 15-24 year olds.
Posted by: Pappy || 03/12/2006 11:30 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The conclusion they will draw is war fixes youth unemployment most rikki-tik.
Posted by: Penguin || 03/12/2006 13:04 Comments || Top||

#2  "How can we have such high unemployment with all these good suicide-bomber jobs left unfilled? Kids today are just too damn lazy."
Posted by: Anonymoose || 03/12/2006 14:54 Comments || Top||

#3  The Moolahs have a final solution: unemployed youths should become suicide bombers.
Posted by: Captain America || 03/12/2006 17:30 Comments || Top||

#4  from co-workers with relatives in Iran: the problem's a LOT more serious
Posted by: Frank G || 03/12/2006 18:09 Comments || Top||

#5  They need more McDonalds.
Posted by: Skidmark || 03/12/2006 22:16 Comments || Top||


World's biggest fish meat ball cooked in Iran
The world's biggest fish meat ball was prepared and cooked in this northwestern provincial capital, it was reported Saturday.
Wonder if it was 'nuked'?
Some 15 cooks worked for 48 consecutive hours to cook a 20kg fish meatball in the one-day seafood festival held at the Tabriz International Exhibition fairgrounds here on Friday, a provincial official told IRNA.

Potatoes, onion, spices, oil, barberry and seed leaf were mixed with the Fitofag fish to make a gigantic meatball, the head of Public Relations at Tabriz Fisheries, Soheila Karimi, noted. The deliciously cooked fish meatball was distributed among some 4,000 people residing in the city.

The one-day sea food exhibition held Friday in Tabriz was aimed at encouraging consumption of seafood for good health by people in this northeastern city which is far from any river, lake or sea. The city of Tabriz is famous in the country for its meatball cooked the traditional way. Earlier this year the world's biggest omelet and shrimp pizza were cooked on the southern island of Kish and in Tehran, respectively.
"Coming soon to Food Network..."
Posted by: Pappy || 03/12/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Guess I need some lessons on the ins and outs of a civil war. Seems to me, during a civil war, I wouldn't what to be out, making the world's biggest fish meat ball.
Posted by: Sherry || 03/12/2006 0:21 Comments || Top||

#2  Fish, smish. Big deal.

Call me when Iran's (or at least the MM's) goose is cooked.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 03/12/2006 0:22 Comments || Top||

#3  fitofag fish..[carp]


How can they tell the fitos are gay?

fish gaydar???
Posted by: RD || 03/12/2006 1:32 Comments || Top||

#4  fitofag fish - Interesting marketing problem,
Posted by: phil_b || 03/12/2006 4:34 Comments || Top||

#5  You don't make huge "Meatballs" because of the uneven heating problem, the outside cooks before the inside is done, leading to food poisioning when you hit the uncooked and partcooked meat.

The best rule of cooking is never to make any kind of "Meatloaf" (Fish or otherwise) thicker than four inches, then it will cook thoroughly.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 03/12/2006 9:40 Comments || Top||

#6  Tell them they just made gefilte fish.
Posted by: Eric Jablow || 03/12/2006 11:26 Comments || Top||

#7  and coming soon. World's biggest Bar B Q of long pig. Hallal long pig at that.
Posted by: Thinemp Whimble2412 || 03/12/2006 12:01 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
Bennish to return to the classroom
ScrappleFace
(2006-03-11) — As part of the federal ‘No Child Left Behind’ mandate, Colorado high school geography teacher Jay Bennish will return to the classroom Monday to receive additional instruction in history and politics from 16-year-old student Sean Allen.

“We can’t give up on him now,” said President George Bush, whom Mr. Bennish had compared with Nazi dictator Adolph Hitler. “We can’t let the soft bigotry of low expectations prevent Jay Bennish from getting the education he so desperately needs.”

Mr. Bennish, who was placed on paid administrative leave during the probe of his anti-American classroom rant, said he’s “excited to get back to the place where the learning never stops.”

On the tape of a world geography lecture, Sean Allen can be heard asking his teacher questions.

“I employ the Socratic method,” the sophomore said, “hoping that questions will open his mind to receive facts and get him to think critically. I’m eager for Mr. Bennish to return to the classroom. We have so much work to do, and there’s so little time.”
Posted by: Korora || 03/12/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Out of the mouths of babes...

That is some fine sarcasm.
Posted by: Cloth Snatch4013 || 03/12/2006 5:02 Comments || Top||

#2  I wonder what Sean Allen's chances of passing the class are.....
Posted by: Elmong Chitch1399 || 03/12/2006 16:09 Comments || Top||



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Two weeks of WOT
Sun 2006-03-12
  Foley Killers Hanged
Sat 2006-03-11
  Clerics announce Sharia in S Waziristan
Fri 2006-03-10
  MILF coup underway?
Thu 2006-03-09
  Qaeda fugitive surrenders in Kuwait
Wed 2006-03-08
  N. Korea Launches Two Missiles
Tue 2006-03-07
  15 Dead, Dozens hurt in blasts in north Indian temple town
Mon 2006-03-06
  Bangla Bhai bangla nabbed
Sun 2006-03-05
  Ayman issues call for more attacks
Sat 2006-03-04
  EU3 Begin To Realize They Were Duped
Fri 2006-03-03
  Leb Army seals Syrian border
Thu 2006-03-02
  JMB chief Abdur Rahman nabbed
Wed 2006-03-01
  US journo trapped in Afghan prison riot
Tue 2006-02-28
  Yemen Executes American Missionaries’ Murderer
Mon 2006-02-27
  Saudi forces clash with suspected militants
Sun 2006-02-26
  Jihad Jack Guilty

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